Like Moths To Flames
by SorrowfulTear22
Summary: A new ruler is striking war on the hidden villages, a ruler with a thirst for power. With Sasuke Uchiha at his disposal, and power far beyond Madara Uchiha's, how will the villages survive, especially when his interest is on a certain medical jounin of the hidden leaf, Sakura Haruno. SakuraXSasuke, slight NarutoXSakura
1. Prologue

Note: Don't own anything of Naruto, and blah blah blah... enjoy! Just the Prologue so far

King Of Darkness

Water trickles against water as it streams from the mouth of a dragon, sculpted over the edge of a small pool. The water's smooth surface reflects a bright auroa of Blue and silver waves across the walls of the cave around it. Their glow, beautiful yet mysterious.

Water unsettles with a quiet splash as a young man slowly rises through the surface of the pool. Several droplets of crystal-clear water fall off the end of the young man's thick, furred cloak as he rises above the water.

The black and gray fur is heavy when wet, but it posses no challenge against the young man's strength.

His shoulders are broad and firm, his arms thick with muscle, his stomach toned, and his legs powerful tools meant for cracking the Earth. He steps free from the pool, pulling himself onto the stone floor of the cave with no more effort than a little crouch. His feet are like weights, heavy enough to nearly sending tremors throughout the cave. His shoulders stride back and forth with power and a Alpha male aura radiates from this man's body.

He approaches the back of a metal and stone chair settled ahead of him, brushing his fingers carelessly over the top of his snarling pet wolf as he takes a seat in his thrown. He overlooks an empty room carved from the walls of the cave. It's a long, wide room built to hold an army of great size or perhaps, to host a battle between the most powerful Shinobi.

He raises a hand to rest under his chin. The crow above his head drops a small leather book into his lap with a piercing screech. The young man takes this book into his unoccupied hand and with indifference he flips though the pages, scanning his eyes over each image and each red cross over those images. So many where dead. so many slaughtered by his hands. the memories so vivid and horrific. he scoffs. he loved it. loved the pain, the screams, the fear, that each of these people felt as he sliced them to pieces. most of them had been his "pets", as he liked to call them.

A sly grin finds it's way across his perfectly smooth lips as he comes to the page he'd been searching for. His finger slides down and stops beside an image.

A woman.

Her jade eyes so lively, yet so mysterious. Her short hair, pink as a cherry blossom in spring. She's a kunoichi of the leaf village. A dreadful village, full of happiness and courage. He scoffs at that. _Yet as pitiful as the place is... _a smirk crosses his lips. It brings a sense of pleasure to gaze upon this woman's unmarked picture. She has yet to be placed among the dead, or added to his experiments. She will be his next "pet".

At the far corner of the room, watching from the nearest patch of shadows, stands this young man's servant. His face masked by his indifference, uncaring toward everything and everyone around him, his hair spiked like a raven's wing, and His onyx eyes, cold and detached from the world. He calmly waits for his master's orders, knowing he'll have to obey.

"I have a task for you," The young man calls to his servant. He stares down at the woman's picture, the wolf head he'd crafted into a hat, shifts with his movement. A sudden flicker of darkness blocks the light in the cave and his beaming green eyes peer though the darkness, matching the glow of his hair.


	2. 1 Rising Storm

Rising Storm

Rain slaps against wetened leaves with a loud _'Tap-Tap'... 'Tap-Tap'... _rhythm.

Two injured shinobi stumble their way through a darkened forest, tipping over rotten logs, smacking against thick trees, and staggering through thorny bushes. The sun had gone down only two hours ago, sucking the color from the trees and the sky, leaving the forest nothing but a pitch black maze, lit only by the silver glow of the moon.

Their cloaks tare as bushes sharp claws clutch onto them, trying to restrain them from moving onward. Rain soaks their clothes, their bodies heavy with the added weight. Both already drained of energy and chakra from the long journey, are now under even more pressure than before. Not only was their mission compromised by a group of rouge shinobi, but those very same shinobi had pursued them across three countries without rest, up until this point. they are relentless warriors chasing after their pray with no signs of exhaustion or even hunger. True killers.

However, The two inured shinobi where running off the energy Military pills provided, allowing them to travel for a total of three days straight without rest, but now their reaching dangerous levels of exhaustion and fatigue. They couldn't pop another pill or else they would risk death, so all they can do is keep running. Out of the two, the kunoichi has slightly more energy pulsing through her veins, allowing her to support her half-conscious teammate's weight against her body.

She turns her head to look over her shoulder, her short pink hair catching in the moonlight above. Her jade eyes scan the trees hovering over the forest. The branches above seem to arch down at them with long, twisted fingers, almost like a claw crane descending from the sky to pluck them off their feet, like little stuffed animals. But something else catches her attention as well. a shock of fright stills her heart from it's beating and she watches as seven shadow-like figures spring across the high, down winding tree branches, shortening the distance between them and her.

"S-Sakura," the injured shinobi weakly calls out to the kunochi.

Her head whips forward in alarm, but It's too late. She stumbles through a bush, her foot catches on a the base of a log and she and her teammate are quickly knocked down a steep hill, immediately separating from each other and rolling off in different directions. Sakura rolls to a stop on her stomach, smacking her head against the ground.

Hash throbs of pain pulse through her skull. The pain demands for her to stay down, the aches in her muscles call for a rest, but the strength of her will refuses to give up so easily. Weakly, She lifts her head, ignoring the agony. Her vision is a swirled blur of black and silver moonlight. it takes a moment for her to adjust to her surroundings. Trying to shake off the daze, she pushes her stomach off the ground, holding herself up with her hands and knees. Her arms tremble at the added stress. At first everything continues to spin but as moonlight touches the forest floor and beams through the branches above, her vision clears. Ahead of her, peeking through the trees she finds the opening to Konoha's gates. that's where she and her teammate needed to go.

Using what little strength her arms provide, she pushes herself onto her feet. Her body burns in protest, bringing pain to every joint. She searches the darkness for her teammate, observing every thickened corner of shadows around her with worry.

"Michi?" she calls weakly.

A small whimper in the form of a moan reaches her ears. There, To her far right, through a couple ravished bushes she finds him, laying on his back against the base of a tree, clasping a hand over his shoulder with nothing but a pained expression across his face. Sakura limps her way to his side, bending down to help him stand. "Leave me," he mumbles, grasping Sakura's hand in his own.

Sakura's eyes widen on his face, observing the serious narrow of his eye brows. The moon reflects off his pale skin perfectly. His deep amber eyes are serious, stern even, as if demanding her to leave him behind. Sakura can't help but admire her teammate's courage, as well as his lure. Not only is he devilishly handsome, but he's as strong as a lion. Untamed and unbridled power lurking in the muscles wrapped around his arms, hidden charm across that oval, defined face of his. He is a born god. Sakura quickly shoves these thoughts from her mind, focusing on the task at hand and the limited around of time with it.

Saving his life.

Not only as a medic but as a friend as well, she needed to save his life. There is no, leaving behind when she's around. With a narrow of her eyes and a new found confidence she lifts his arm over her shoulders and she clutches onto the side of his shirt. As she begins to raise him from the ground and Just as he starts to stand, he suddenly jerks her forward, forcing her head against his chest.

_'Thunk'_

A kunai lodges into the tree right where her head had been. Sakura quickly looks behind her. The shadow-like shinboi jump out of the trees aiming for the ground. Sakura quickly pulls her teammate to his feet and she uses the last bit of her chakra to send a massive explosion of earth at the opposing enemies. They dart back into the trees like the swift little shadows they are and Sakura stumbles into a sprint, heading for the opening at the end of the forest.

_Almost there... _Sakura reassures herself.

A kunai pierces her in the back and she tumbles out of the forest, landing on her knees in front of Konoha's gates. Michi's arm slips off her shoulders and he holds himself up with his hands and knees, panting beside her. Groaning in pain Sakura rips the kunai out of her back. Her gaze falls on the two leaf shinobi standing at the mouth of the gate, Both give her shocked expressions, including slightly gaped mouths.

"Get the Hokage!" one calls to the other before running over to Sakura and her teammate.

All the sudden, three shuriken lock into the Leaf shinobi's forehead, sending him on his back. The seven black cloaked, shinobi drop from the trees behind Sakura and Michi. One marches up behind Sakura and he grabs Sakura by the back of her neck, jerking her head backward. His kunai comes up to her throat, threatening to slice her neck into a wide, crimson smile.

"S-sakura..." Michi weakly calls. his head barley manages to raise so he can look over to her. Sakura could see him struggling to reach out to her.

A sudden blue flash of light breaks the surrounding darkness and a voice rings in the air. "RASENGAN!"

The knife at Sakura's throat drops and the shinobi darts into the forest, vanishing from sight. Sakura lets herself fall onto her back and she exhales a sigh of relief. Everything settles into silence and swift footsteps approach Sakura.

"Sakura?"

A blonde haired shinobi hovers over her, meeting her weakening gaze with his worried blue iris. A weak smile finds it's way across her lips. "Naruto..." She whispers. Finally, she allows the heavy grasp of sleep drag her under.


End file.
